Chapter 002: Understanding

Du Fan clapped his hands, placing them behind his back. With a slight tremor in his palms, several magic scrolls appeared in his hands. Yet he didn’t reach for them immediately. Instead, he smiled and said, “Lord Aldas, aren’t you being too hasty? What advantage does it give you to fight me here?”
Aldas shook his head gently, remaining silent.
Du Fan looked at his face, glowing with silver light, and a hint of pity appeared in his eyes. He couldn’t help but sigh and say, “Lord Aldas, I think it’s better if you leave. It’s better for both you and me.”
A flicker of confusion crossed Aldas’s eyes as he asked, “Lord Du Fan, what do you mean by that?”
Du Fan sized Aldas up before sighing again. “Lord Aldas, judging from your combat energy, you’re probably on the verge of breaking through to level nine, right? Indeed, with your current strength—neither high nor low—you’re just at the right level to be among the strongest in the Divine Palace. But have you ever wondered why I can come here without entering?”
Aldas’s expression changed. He hadn’t expected that Du Fan’s reason for not entering might be his weak strength. After all, a third-level person showing up here uninvited would probably never be believed, even if Aldas killed him.
So that meant Du Fan hadn’t entered the Divine Palace for some other reason—could it be that his strength had already surpassed level nine?!
But clearly, he could sense that although Du Fan’s combat energy was somewhat strange, it was at most at level three. Yet Du Fan’s expression remained calm.
For a moment, Aldas found it utterly strange. His intuition told him that with just one move, he could kill this bastard, avenging his sister and resolving the problem at hand. But for some reason, Du Fan made him feel chilled, preventing him from acting. The thought that Elvis was likely in that man’s hands made Aldas even more cautious.
Finally, Aldas couldn’t resist and gave a signal behind him. In less than a moment, dozens of figures appeared behind him. Though each still wore a black cloak, they all held various weapons in their hands.

Seeing this, Du Fan finally showed a hint of satisfaction. He nodded slightly and said, “Lord Aldas, that’s right. Even when dealing with someone as insignificant as me, you must go all out. Otherwise, it would be foolish for all of you to die here one by one.”

Aldas snorted. This time, he didn’t dare be overconfident. The icy sword at his waist was drawn, and a faint silver combat aura wrapped around it. The sword, originally less than a meter long, seemed to grow several feet longer under the effect of the combat aura, making it even more lethal.

However, Aldas didn’t attack first. Instead, he aimed the tip of his sword at Du Fan’s throat from a distance. Warriors below the Saint rank had weaker soul perception skills compared to mages. If Aldas had already surpassed the Saint rank, Du Fan wouldn’t have had a chance to act pretentiously here. But unfortunately, Aldas hadn’t reached that level yet.

Moreover, Du Fan, having mastered countless spells, possessed extraordinary mental strength. He unconsciously cast a spell of soul pressure, which made Aldas hesitate. Under normal circumstances, Du Fan might not have been able to do this, but given the situation, Aldas was preconceived in his mind, believing that the Holy Church would never send some insignificant person to deal with his large force. That’s why such a strange situation arose.

Among the men in black behind Aldas, one slowly stepped forward. As she walked, she removed her hood, revealing a delicate face—it was Kris.

Kris stared at Du Fan for a moment. Somehow, her face suddenly turned red, but she quickly suppressed this reaction. Instead, she smiled at Du Fan and said, “Lord Du Fan, it’s fate that we meet here, isn’t it?”

Du Fan nodded slightly. “So it’s Miss Kris. It’s rare to see you. But considering our past relationship, please back off. I don’t want to hurt you, and I hope you know your place.”

Kris smiled gently. “Lord Du Fan, you’re joking. At a moment like this, we are enemies, not friends. Since we both share the same goal, this fight is inevitable sooner or later. I just want to ask you something clearly before we fight.”

Du Fan nodded. “Go ahead and ask.”

Kris said, “I wonder if Lord Du Fan still remembers that man named Elvis?”

Du Fan thought for a moment before replying, “Oh, that reckless kid? What foolish thing has he done now?”

Hearing Du Fan say this, Kris was both angry and amused, but she held back her anger and said, “Lord Du Fan, you’re joking. Elvis hasn’t appeared since that duel. We’ve deployed most of our people, yet we still can’t find him. So, I’d like to ask Lord Du Fan once again—what exactly happened to Elvis?”
With Anthony the old fox as his backing, Du Fan no longer hid anything and smiled, saying, “Miss Kris, do you want to hear the truth or a lie?”
Kris asked, “What’s the difference between a lie and the truth?”
Du Fan replied, “As for the lie, it’s still the same old story—after dueling with me, that guy ran away on his own. As for the truth… it’s rather heart-breaking…”
Kris stared at Du Fan, her face tense.
Du Fan simply smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping over the group of men in black behind Aldas before he said in a low voice, “I wonder… can a person still be considered alive after being burned to ashes by magic?”
Aldas and Kris exchanged a look, their expressions changing. Though they had already guessed somewhat what would happen, hearing it from Du Fan still shocked them.
Aldas’ expression shifted, and after a long while, he said, “So, Lord Du Fan, it seems we now have another score to settle between us?”
Du Fan nodded and said, “It doesn’t matter. After all, isn’t this already a situation of mutual destruction? Even if I were to spare you, you wouldn’t spare me, would you?”
As he spoke, Du Fan smiled slightly.
It had to be said that Du Fan, having spent these years in the Holy Church, had truly managed to pretend to be someone he wasn’t. Anyone from Roland Academy could easily kill him with just a flick of their finger, yet everyone here was still intimidated by him. If Aldas ever learned the truth, who knew if he’d be so enraged he’d spit blood.
Du Fan stepped back a few steps, his expression turning extremely serious. The people from Roland Academy sensed his murderous intent and became alert, ready to defend themselves against his lightning-fast attacks.
Suddenly, Du Fan let out a low sigh, as if lamenting something, but in the next instant, he raised his hand and threw several magic scrolls in different directions.
These scrolls contained wind blade magic. As soon as they were thrown, wind blades shot out in all directions. Such intangible attacks were the hardest to deal with. Even Aldas didn’t dare be careless and quickly swung his long sword to create a barrier of light.

But when Du Fan saw this, he nodded in satisfaction. The next moment, he retreated rapidly, throwing several more magic scrolls at once. This time, he truly threw in all his resources—every magic scroll he sent was a high-level spell like Fire Dragon Spell or Thunderbolt Spell, with devastating power. The spells sent out immediately caused chaos among the people of Roland Academy; those unlucky enough to be struck by Thunderbolt Spell turned to ashes on the spot. Those burned by Fire Dragon Spell could barely resist with their ki, but those with insufficient ki couldn’t hold out for long before falling into the sea of fire.

Kris paused slightly, using her ki to dodge left and right, avoiding most of the spells. When a few spells appeared in front of her, she gently deflected them with the tip of her sword. As for Aldas, his entire body was covered in Earth Spirit Ki, so the lightning and fire struck him yet seemed to have no effect on him.

Aldas resisted for a while before suddenly noticing Du Fan retreating. He was puzzled—why was that guy backing away instead of taking the chance to strike him with lightning?

When he saw Du Fan even tossing another magic scroll as he retreated, he began to have a bad feeling: Could it be that Du Fan was just a third-level weakling who had been pretending all along, which explained why he retreated at the first strike? Was his so-called magic skill really just due to the power of the magic scrolls?

After thinking through everything, Aldas suddenly realized that Du Fan was definitely no match for him. Filled with rage, he roared and charged forward.

But before he could cover even a few meters, he crashed into a transparent wall with a “ah” sound.

Aldas had been running at full speed, and the impact made him feel dizzy, almost causing him to pass out. When he managed to get up, blood flowed from his nose and forehead.

Finally, the composure on Aldas’s face vanished. The silver ki he usually used to maintain his image not only failed to protect him but also accelerated the damage to his face. After that collision, his face was likely ruined.